


Lovesong

by Topiltzin



Category: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fetish, Misunderstandings, Nylon Fetish, Oral Sex, Romance, Teen Romance, Underage Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:40:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21670876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Topiltzin/pseuds/Topiltzin
Summary: In 1989, the Cure released "Disintegration," one of the masterpieces of popular music, especially among angst-ridden 16-year-olds.  Considering that the primary Hogwarts Mystery characters are 16 in 1989, it felt right that at least one of them would be head over heels about this cathartic record of loneliness and despair.  To me, the obvious choice was Chiara, doomed to live the lonely life of a werewolf witch.This is a story about how she navigates her relationships with her best friend and her could-have-been soulmate (the MC, here a male character helpfully named Malachi Cavendish).It's my first time writing erotica publically. I hope it's OK!
Relationships: Chiara Lobosca/Penny Haywood, Chiara Lobosca/Player Character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	Lovesong

I

Haunting, foreboding music poured from the tinny speakers on the small cassette player in the corner of the room: “I think it’s dark, and it looks like it’s rain, you said. And the wind is blowing like it’s the end of the world, you said.”

The sixteen-year-old silver-haired girl had picked up the cassette over the summer and had been playing it on repeat, driving her dormmates crazy.A couple of them had perhaps foolishly introduced her to muggle music a few years back, but they had not anticipated how much she’d embrace it.Now they mocked her affection for it; after all, they were wizards, surely they should enjoy wizard music.

But she didn’t care.Wizard music sucked.It was basic maths, she reasoned.After all, there were only around 40 wizards born each year in the British Isles, compared too close to a million muggles.If a hundredth of one percent become good musicians, that’s 100 muggles and, well, zero wizards. 

Plus, while magic might help you play better, it didn’t make you more creative.Wizards weren’t known for their creativity.That’s why it seemed that wizards all went to work for the Ministry of Magic.Or for the Dark Lord.Not enough individuality.

So she didn’t care.No wizard music could resonate with her the way the Smiths did.Or New Order.Or Siouxsie and the Banshees.Or especially the Cure.And this new Cure album was heartbreakingly perfect.It captured her sadness, her loneliness, her discontent, her abandonment, her deep despair. 

Initially, she had fallen in love with punk music, because punk reflected her anger, and she was angry.Angry at her parents for constantly moving her from house to house.Angry at people for their fear.And most of all, angry at Fenrir Greyback for having bitten her nine years ago, when she was seven.That bite had changed her life forever.

Since that bite, Chiara Lobosca had become a werewolf.Every month, at the full moon, the condition would take over, transforming her into a ravenous creature: a monster without conscience.Only the recent invention of wolfsbane potion had given her hope, and the ability to attend Hogwarts without being a danger to her schoolmates.The potion allowed her to keep her human mind in control when she did transform into that terrifying monster.But that foul-tasting concoction hadn’t freed her from the anger — or from the almost animal passions that gripped her from time to time. 

What had freed her and converted her anger and resentment to despair and depression was Malachi Cavendish.

She growled as she began to get dressed; divinations class was starting in 10 minutes, and she was running late.The other girls in her dorm had already left.

Cavendish.Everyone loved Cavendish.And why not?He was the curse-breaker.He had found the three cursed vaults. He had saved his brother and Beatrice Haywood.He was popular and handsome, yes, but he was also brilliant in his classes, Ravenclaw’s starting chaser, friends with practically everyone, lover of all animals and magical creatures, and clearly richer than Midas.He must have dozens of different sets of shirts and robes; he was constantly changing his look.Only his uncommon light blue hair remained consistent. That and the confident, close to smug, attitude he’d had for the more than five years she’d known him.

He was one of only a handful of people at Hogwarts to know her secret.Most of the faculty knew, particularly her head of house, Professor Sprout, and the potions master, Professor Snape, who brewed the wolfsbane potion every month.The four girls with whom she shared her dorm knew.And Malachi knew.

He had been so kind and accepting of her when he learned of her condition.He even stayed with her through her transformation, after she had missed her wolfsbane dose at the beginning of the term in September.No one had ever done that, not at Hogwarts.She had had a friend growing up who had seen, but she had been so terrified that her mother had obliviated the girl’s memory, and the Lobosca family moved house. 

So, Malachi’s action and his willingness to stand by her as she truly was had meant the world to Chiara.She had spent so many years pushing people away, afraid of getting close, but he became the exception. 

She had given him one of her greatest treasures - a picture of the sunrise given to her by Remus Lupin, another werewolf who had once attended Hogwarts and had suffered as she had.She gave Malachi the photograph to show how grateful she was and, if she were being honest, to show how much she liked him, maybe even loved him.To show how much she wanted him in her life.

But the experience, of him seeing her monstrous form, had had the opposite effect.It drove him away.He had seemingly turned to ice, becoming very polite and proper whenever they interacted.Never rude, but never himself, not as he had been before.She was heartbroken.And for the past nearly three months, she had wallowed in the hurt.

That’s why the new Cure album resonated with her so much.The last song, Untitled, ended with “Feeling the monster climb deep inside of me. Feeling him gnawing my heart away, hungrily. I’ll never lose this pain, never dream of you again.”That was her!That was written just for her! 

She had generally accepted her lot in life, but every once in a while, the inner wolf returned.She felt that way now.Angry. Violent. Enraged.

In her hostility, she yanked too hard on her tights as she tried to pull them up.Riiiiip.Oh bloody fucking hell.She looked down and saw that a full-blown run all the way up from her calf to her thigh.Fuck it.She was too angry to deal with this magically, so she rummaged quickly through her mostly-empty trunk at the foot of the bed.There had to be a backup pair in here somewhere. 

Aha!She pulled out the package, opened it and began to slide them onto her feet and up her legs.Oh fucking bollocks.They were too sheer, the kind of wispy nylon tights you’d wear with formal dress robes, and these had a silver thread pattern for extra shine.She must not have noticed when she bought them over the summer, but they were most definitely not uniform-appropriate.Well, no time now.She couldn’t be late, or Trelawney would have her head.The divinations teacher might seem batty, but she could discipline tardy students with the best of them. Thank Merlin’s beard that it’s dark and foggy in the divinations classroom.

She pointed her wand at the cassette player as she left the room, as Robert Smith was finishing "There was nothing in the world that I ever wanted more than to never feel the breaking apart.” The music stopped and she ran, her flats clipping against the flagstones of the cellar floor.

II

She made it in just in time.Trelawney raised an eyebrow as she entered. “Glad you could join us, Miss Lobosca.” She nodded breathlessly and sat down at her assigned cushion seat.The divinations classroom had small tables with two cushioned seats each, set on risers like a Quidditch stand. Chiara’s table was halfway up the grandstand.

Across the table from her sat Liz Tuttle, a tall animal-loving Slytherin girl whose parents had come from Jamaica.She had always wondered if Liz would be someone she should know better, but after the Malachi incident, she was afraid to open up to anyone.

At the table on the step below them, and slightly behind Chiara’s seat, sat her dorm mate Nymphadora Tonks - who hated her first name and insisted that she be called “Tonks” at all times.She was a metamorphmagus, meaning that she could change her appearance at any time.She usually used the skill to turn her natural light brown hair bright pink.

Across from Tonks, on the seat facing towards Chiara, was Malachi Cavendish. Chiara still wasn’t in the mood to see him.Every time she did, those conflicted feelings of attraction, disgrace, shame, anger, and emptiness would come rushing back.Hopefully this class will move quickly.She really wasn’t in the mood to deal with all this today.

Trelawney had them reviewing the advanced tea leaf reading methods they had learned earlier in the fall.Chiara sat on her cushion, left leg crossed over her right, trying to piece together the message in her cup when she noticed Malachi.His cup kept slipping from his hand, as if someone had put a slime charm on it.She laughed.“What’s the matter, Malachi? Did she give you a greased-up cup?”Cavendish looked pale and mumbled something under his breath.She raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Tonks sitting below and slightly behind her.Her pink-haired friend returned her glance and shrugged.

As the class continued, Malachi continued to make mistake after mistake.A dropped cup too many here, an incorrect analysis there.Trelawney glared at him. “Mister Cavendish, you are making me rethink whether you are truly NEWT-level.”Cavendish now turned beet red, getting up to get a new cup from the shelves.As he searched, he kept looking back at the tables.

How weird, Chiara thought.She turned to Liz.“What’s up with Malachi?” she asked, not exactly hiding her amusement.

“I don’t know,” Liz replied, thoughtfully rubbing her chin. “He seems quite distracted. I wonder if he’s worried about Quidditch?”

Chiara couldn’t roll her eyes back far enough.Of course.Quidditch.Ugh.She didn’t care much for flying and wasn’t a sport fan.Hogwarts’ obsession with Quidditch never made sense to her; even by wizard standards, the rules were ridiculous.

As he returned, Cavendish spilled tea on the floor in front of Chiara.He cursed softly and apologetically began cleaning it up with a rag.“Yikes, Malachi, you’re having a day. Is Quidditch on your mind?” she asked, concerned.

The boy looked up quizzically, eyebrows furrowed. “What?” His eyes met hers and he again turned pink.He quickly looked away, focusing on cleaning up the tea.He was so out of sorts he had forgotten he could use a cleaning charm.

When Trelawney finally released them from class, she promptly rose, sliding off the cushion to the floor.She turned back to Malachi, but he just sat there, mouth hanging loose, looking down at… what?Where the tea had split?Bizarre.

III

She strolled back first to the library, then to the hospital wing, where she often helped Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse.Chiara’s lifelong dream was to be a master healer, to solve the magical afflictions of the world, and if she could cure lycanthropy in the process, so much the better. 

Eventually, she came to the Hufflepuff common room by the kitchens, then across to her basement bedroom. 

For not the first time, she wondered what it would be like to have a room with more natural light.The sun glinted in through the small semicircle windows high up the walls, but during the dark coming winter, the dorms could be pretty gloomy, even with the magical light that infused the common room.

Tonks had beat her back to the room and was lying on her bed when Chiara entered the room.The pink-haired metamorphmagus was on her stomach, reading the latest Zonko’s catalog.Tonks was one of the three Hufflepuffs that Chiara had become true friends with.Chiara admired her devil-may-care attitude and love of jokes and pranks, although she felt them to be slightly bizarre traits for someone who wanted to be an auror, a dark-wizard catcher.

“Wotcher, Ciara?” Tonks welcomed here as she came in.

“I’m a bit confused, if I’m being honest,” Chiara said. “Did you notice that Malachi Cavendish was in complete disarray today?He seemed so distracted.Very odd, isn’t it?”

Tonks looked up at Chiara standing by the door, and really looked at her for the first time.With a knowing nod, she went back to her catalog.“It’s the tights,” she replied.

“What?”

“The tights.Cavendish is into legs.Haven’t you noticed?”

Chiara was gobsmacked.“Pull the other one.”

“So you haven’t noticed,” Tonks sighed.She put down her catalog and swung herself up to sitting.“He’s been into legs since, what, third year?”

“How do you know this?”

“I know everything,” Tonks replied matter-of-factly.Chiara couldn’t really disagree. Tonks had exemplary observational powers. Perhaps that was an outgrowth of her metamorphosing ability.

Chiara thought back to Cavendish.“So his complete lack of concentration…”

“Due to your new tights,” Tonks finished.

“But I wear tights every day,” Chiara retorted. “We all do.”

“Not like those.”

“But why isn’t he after you then? You wear tights all the time.”

“Who says he wasn’t?” Tonks smiled. “But he’s not my type.”Chiara understood this.Tonks always said she liked older, more “dangerous” men, as she put it.

“Does Penny know this?”Penny Haywood, their dorm mate, was a buxom blonde, but she wasn’t exactly a fashion plate, wearing school robes fairly exclusively.“I’d have thought she’d have taken advantage of that.”

“You know,” Tonks pondered thoughtfully, “that’s a very good question. Maybe she has; she seems to have nicer school tights than the rest of us.Anyway, don’t believe me? Why don’t you test the theory? What’s your next class with Cavendish?”

“Flying.This afternoon.”

“Mmkay.Watch for his reaction.But wait a minute…”

At that moment, the door opened, and a girl walked in, with chin length blonde hair.Tonks brightened immediately.“Cassie!Can Chiara borrow a pair of shoes?”

“Oh certainly!” Cassiopeia Lewis was a kind and enthusiastic Welsh girl with a fondness for all things fashion.She was going to be in Chiara’s flying class that afternoon but wasn’t taking Divinations. 

“What sort of shoes? Stilettos? Platforms? Gladiator sandals?”Cassie waved her wand at her trunk and what seemed like a never-ending flood of shoes came pouring out.

“Stop, stop, stop!” Chiara screamed.“I don’t want new shoes.”

“Oh get off it, Chiara,” Tonks scoffed. “All you have are the basic flats and those trainers you run in, and you can’t wear those to class.If you want to test the theory, you have to do it properly.Cassie, Chiara needs something black and simple. Something uniform-compliant but with a little razzle-dazzle, and safe on a broomstick.”

“Oh!” Cassie waved the torrent of footwear back into the trunk.She peered in, and pulled out a pair of patent leather Oxfords with a small, chunky heel.“These’ll do then.I think they still fit your personality.Not as exciting as date wear, but maybe another time?My trunk is your trunk, Loba!”

“Don’t… Oh forget it.” Chiara hated when people called her Loba, but five years and two months of correcting Cassie had done no good whatsoever.She took the shoes and glaring at the two girls, slipped them on her stocking feet.

She turned in the mirror.OK.She was still herself.Chin length straight silver hair. Bright blue eyes beneath strong dark eyebrows.She didn’t go for much more makeup than that: just a basic foundation, some light eyeshadow and rose lipgloss.Yellow tie over white shirt with charcoal jacket and skirt, all covered with her yellow-lined black Hogwarts robe.She stood five foot seven, and while she didn’t develop in quite the same way as some of her classmates, she still had filled out nicely. 

She had balanced her extra study work with a regular daily run around the lake.It helped her clear her mind when everything got to be too much, maybe it was a side effect of her condition.As she looked at herself, even she had to admit that her legs did look pretty good.The black sheer tights had a bit of sheen to them, and with the Oxfords instead of her flats, she seemed taller, like her legs had grown a few inches.

“OK,” she said.“Thank you, Cassie.I think this is completely mental, but we’ll see what we see.” 

She put the Cure back on, as the other girls groaned. 

IV

That afternoon, she and Cassie strolled into the Practice Field, ready for Flying class.She hadn’t told Cassie anything about her conversation with Tonks or her experience with Cavendish that morning.She still wasn’t sure why she was doing this.She certainly didn’t have any interest in Malachi Cavendish!Not anymore, at least.But something inside her was curious, extremely curious to know about this potential weak spot.

Cavendish walked in a few minutes later, accompanied as usual by Rowan Khanna, his best friend, and, in a surprise twist, Penny Haywood.Chiara noticed that Tonks had been right, at least about Penny.Her skirt was maybe a bit shorter than others, and her tights, while opaque as required, seemed shinier and perhaps more expensive than anyone else’s. 

Only then did she glance up at Cavendish.The boy, now sixteen, was tall, medium build, with bright green eyes and a mop of light blue hair.He always sported that smile that others found welcoming but that she found so disappointing, so phony.

But the smile wasn’t there.His eyes were huge and mouth opened in an “o” of surprise as he looked at her.She glanced swiftly at Haywood, who noticing his gaze, grabbed his arm and dragged him away to the other side of the class.Once there, she glared at Chiara with a surprising amount of venom.

Chiara was stunned.Penny was a friend, her best friend.That friendship had taken a long time to build: Penny had lost one of her friends to a werewolf attack long ago, and it took her quite some time to be comfortable with Chiara and her condition.But now they were incredibly close, although Penny hadn’t taken the step that Malachi had to see Chiara’s transformation. 

Chiara had consoled Penny when Penny’s sister Beatrice had been caught in the portrait curse the previous year.That April, she was Penny’s shoulder to cry on when her cousin, a muggle who supported a football team from Liverpool, has been killed in a tragic stadium accident in Yorkshire. And Penny had been there for her when Malachi had abandoned her in September.

But that look Penny just gave seemed to suggest that all that friendship was at risk.

Chiara knew Penny liked Malachi.Were they actually dating?Was the blond Hufflepuff jealously guarding him from me?I’m not interested in him anymore!She started getting concerned.She would need to talk to Penny to sort this out.

But on the other hand, she must admit, Tonks had been on the money about everything. Blimey.

Towards the end of class, Madam Hooch had the students line up to do one-on-one fast sprints around the castle.Chiara took her place behind Tonks, set to race against Rowan Khanna.Rowan was just about as lousy a flyer as Chiara was. 

Tonks examined the other line thoughtfully and whispered to the Slytherin boy in front, who smirked back.Next thing Chiara knew, Tonks had shoved Chiara in front of her.“What are you doing?” Chiara frantically whispered at the prankster.Tonks just winked.Then the Slytherin boy and the girl in front of him, Merula Snyde, had pushed Chiara in front of them too.“Enjoy getting destroyed,” Merula hissed in her ear.Chiara looked across to the other line and gasped.She was now paired with Cavendish.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle to get started, and the first pair took to the air.Chiara and Malachi were next.Malachi looked over for the first time, prepared to see Merula, his usual opponent.His face looked shocked as he saw Chiara, but he didn’t have time to register his surprise.

The two mounted their brooms and 3, 2, 1, soared into the air.Chiara flew forward, preparing for the block and pass that always came at the first turn around the courtyard.But it never came.Around the second turn, then the third, and still no contact.She dove through the silver rings at the end of the course, and then to the finish line.Shortly afterwards, Cavendish landed.“I guess you got me,” he said.

Chiara glanced at Tonks, who grinned almost maniacally.Other students were cheering, and Cassie ran over to give her a congratulatory hug.Penny didn’t.She crossed her arms and bit her lip.Chiara was pleased with herself, but also very confused with what had happened.

As they left the field to head back to the dormitories, Chiara pulled Cassie aside. “What happened?Did he hit something?”

“No,” the Welsh girl replied, with a meaning look. “He was flying fine, but he wasn’t really paying attention to the course. It’s odd; it seemed as though he just couldn’t take his eyes off _you_.”

Chiara stared at Cassie in shock.Her brain was on fire.What was happening?

“Ahem, Miss Lobosca.”Madame Hooch was approaching.Cassie whispered “I’ll see you later” and bolted.Chiara turned and stood slightly guiltily.“Those stockings are not regulation uniform, as you know.I trust you will stick to the dress code?”

“Yes, Madame Hooch.I’ll get changed right away.” She hurried away, and as she walked, her heart felt like it would burst.

V

Entering the Hufflepuff Common Room, she looked for the pink-haired prankster.“Tonks,” she barked, perhaps too loudly.“We need to talk.”Tonks’ grin did not leave her face, as she rose to join Chiara and Cassie in the dorm. 

Before they opened the door, Chiara stopped them. “Wait,” she said. “Penny’s not in there, is she?”

“Oh no,” Tonks said. “She’s out watching Quidditch practice.”

Chiara breathed a sigh of relief and ushered the two girls into the dorm room.

“Look, Tonks, what was that all about?What are you playing at?”

Tonks’ grin vanished, and she looked at the silver-haired girl with deep sincerity.“I’ve heard this music you listen to every day, Chiara.You love Malachi.You have always loved him.But you would never actually make a move.Instead, you wallow in this darkness.I mean, in a world in which Milli Vanilli exists, you choose to listen to the Cure instead?I’m trying to give you a bit of a push.”

Cassie jumped in. “She’s right, Chiara. You can’t be miserable forever. And we know how much he cares about you. Risking his life to be with you when you transformed? That’s not being a good friend, that’s love.”

Chiara shook her head.“If that were true, then why did he become so cold, so polite? Why does he mock me when we play gobstones?”

“I don’t know,” Cassie replied, “But I can’t help but think that it’s a lack of communication that’s the problem.You have to tell him how you feel.”

“That’s not very English, you know,” Chiara came back.

“But my dear Chiara,” Tonks smiled, “You’re Italian.”

“Half!” Chiara’s father had moved to England in his early 20s and met her West Sussex-born mother.But Chiara smiled in spite of herself.“OK. But what about Penny?”

The three girls sat in silence.“What about Penny?” Cassie asked.

“She still likes him,” Chiara said, “Did you see the look she gave me in class today? I can’t talk to Malachi if it means risking my relationship with her.”

The others didn’t say anything at first.Finally Cassie spoke up. “Penny is such a good person, and she cares so much for you.She knows that she and Malachi haven’t worked out.She would be upset at first, maybe, but she’d be happy for you eventually.”

Chiara wasn’t sure.Penny kept a picture of Malachi and the Ravenclaw Quidditch team on her nightstand.But something inside her had woken to the possibility of being with Malachi.Was it the werewolf in her?Whatever it was, the excitement was taking over from the more sensible part of her brain.

“Right,” she replied slowly.“OK,” finally smiling at the two girls. “What should I do?”

Cassie immediately jumped up; it was makeover time.“You should try something a little different than T-shirt and jeans, at least at first, don’t you think? We know what gets his attention; let’s work with that.”

Cassie helped where she could in the shoe department, but for clothing, the sizing wasn’t quite right.But Cassie did have buried in her trunk a reminder from the old days: a Marks and Spencer catalog.Her mum was muggle-born and despite having been a wizard, she had sworn by old-fashioned High Street shopping. 

“There’s just so many more choices,” Cassie said.“Yes, the patterns don’t move around, but the colour and fit are better.We have, what, five tailors in the whole of magical England? And they’re all quite old-fashioned.It’s 1989!Wear something modern!”

Chiara pored through the catalog, then made her selection.Her parents had given her a muggle account at Barclays as a just-in-case backup, and now it came in handy. 

The package arrived two weeks later, delivered to her room while she was at dinner.Now, she could get to work.

On the cassette player, Robert Smith’s voice whispered: “Be still, be calm, be quiet, my precious boy. Don’t struggle like that or I will only love you more.”

VI

The next afternoon, Malachi Cavendish was relaxing in the Clocktower Courtyard with some of his friends, Rowan Khanna, Andre Egwu, Diego Caplan, and Charlie Weasley.They didn’t always love his conversations, as they had a tendency to go on for 8 hours at a time, but he seemed more succinct this time. 

For Malachi’s part, the weirdness of two weeks ago had long passed.He didn’t quite understand why he had behaved as he had, but Chiara’s legs had looked amazing, and he couldn’t help himself.Fortunately, the next day, she was back to her regular school uniform and out of class, jeans and trainers. 

The lads were discussing the possible location of the final cursed vault.“I’m nearly certain it has something to do with the Black Lake,” Malachi said.“But how would we search underwater?”

Andre, facing Malachi, pondered, “I suppose you could cast a breathing enchantment, and oh myyyyy…”Diego, next to Andre, let out a long, slow whistle.Charlie raised an eyebrow so high, it looked like his face would burst.

Malachi turned around to see what caused such a reaction, and his heart stopped.There was Chiara.Her silver hair was in loose curls around her face, which was punctuated by blushed cheeks and red lips.She was wearing a yellow blazer over a black top.Below was a short red plaid skirt, sheer black tights speckled with little dots, and high-heeled yellow pumps.She looked like something straight out of a fashion magazine.

She glared at the boys for their juvenile reaction.“Malachi!” she called. “Professor McGonagall would like to see us in her office.”

“Pardon?” he eventually blurted after a few seconds of slack-jawed gawping. 

She tried to look confident and forceful. “Professor McGonagall? Her office? Let’s go.”

Malachi looked at his mates, but they provided little guidance.Diego gave a knowing wink and made a slightly rude gesture with his hands, while the others just seemed confused.Only Charlie kept his head.“She’s up to something, Malachi. Stay alert.”Charlie Weasley was born suspicious.

Malachi nodded, then followed the girl as she spun on her heel and exited the courtyard.

He stayed one step behind; he couldn’t help himself.Despite Charlie’s warning, he paid no attention to where they were going. He could only watch the little dots on her calves as she walked.

Chiara could feel his gaze on her.On one hand, she was stunned at how easily he was following her, and she felt powerful and attractive while doing so.But on the other, she felt uneasy. She had to cast a stabilisation charm on her ankles just to keep from falling over in these shoes.She disliked pretending to be someone she wasn’t, and this fashionable Chiara wasn’t her.

She led her prey down the east wing, and up the stairs to the third floor, to classrooms that hadn’t been used in years.Surely he must have noticed now that they weren’t going to transfiguration - that was on a lower floor.But no, he still followed.

She entered an empty classroom, and once he had passed the threshold, she drew her wand and pointed at the door.“Colloportus!” she shouted. The door slammed shut behind, magically sealed.

Cavendish started, drew his wand, and aimed at the girl.“What’s all this, then?” 

Chiara replaced her wand and raised her hands in a calming motion.“Steady on, Malachi.I just what to talk.Let’s sit down.”She gestured at the chairs and desks to his left.He didn’t move, but kept his wand high. 

“You didn’t answer my question.”She walked across the room, or rather sashayed as best she could, his eyes following.

Moving to a chair facing him, she took off her blazer and lay it on the desk behind, revealing a shoulder-baring tanktop.She slid into at the chair and slowly crossed her legs.“I know your secret.”

“What secret?”

“I think you know,” she said, stretching out her right leg, reaching down and pulling on her tights slightly as if to straighten them.His eyes glazed over again and a low intake of breath escaped his lips.

“OK,” he said, dropping his wand.“So you know.What are you going to do?”He looked pale and frightened.

“I haven’t decided,” she said, smiling.He seemed surprised. “Seriously,” she added. “Sit down.Please.”

He sat down in the chair to her right and looked at her.“Look, Chiara,” he said, guardedly, “I kept your secret.I didn’t tell anyone.I’ve been a friend, just like you asked.”

She raised an eyebrow.What was he talking about?He’s hardly been a friend.But maybe boys just had very different definitions of being a friend.

“Oh no,” she replied.“Nothing like that. I know how trustworthy you’ve been.I was just surprised and interested in how you’ve been acting lately.Actually, how you’ve been acting since that night in September.”

Malachi looked away, refusing to her eyes.

Chiara sighed.Clearly, he was not going to transform into a poet filled with some magical outpouring of hidden affection.

She realised that even with the charm, her feet were hurting like crazy.She slipped off her left shoe, and reaching down, she began rubbing the insole.This was such a stupid mistake.How could she let Tonks and Cassie talk her into this?

“Need help with that?” he asked. She looked up, and saw him smiling politely, but in his eyes, there was something else, something stronger.She shrugged, and lifting her feet, she placed them across his lap.

He began to massage her right foot, and wow.She hadn’t felt anything like it before.His hands were so strong; all that Quidditch might have some value after all.But his touch was gentle at the same time.And he knew every spot.He kneaded the ball of her foot, stroked his knuckle along her instep, found every nerve ending and eased every muscle, but his touches never felt ticklish.

She felt the stress melt away as he worked his magic.She hadn’t realised how tense she had been.Neither spoke for some time.

“This is amazing,” she said breathlessly.“How did you get so good at this?”

“Practice, I guess,” he said.“We have books on reflexology in the Ravenclaw common room, and somehow, I became the official masseur of the Ravenclaw members of the dance corps.Tulip’s fault, I suppose.”

“Well, they’re lucky,” she noted.“And Penny’s very lucky to have you.”

He paused momentarily, before switching to her left foot.

“Penny?” he asked.“Oh no, we are just friends.I would’ve thought you’d’ve known that.”

“She seems to think you’re more than that.”

“No no no,” he laughed.“I admit, I fancied her a couple of years back, but ultimately, she and I are in different places and want different things.”

“Really? Huh.” she replied.“So you’re seeing Tulip then?” 

“Tulip? Merlin’s beard!” he laughed harder.

“Badeea? Merula? Liz? Pippa McMillan?”

He looked in her black-lined and shadowed blue eyes with a piercing, searching stare. “Um, no.No, Chiara Lobosca, I am not dating anyone.”

“How can that be? You’re the most popular boy in school!”

He laughed again.She loved that laugh.It was so easy-going, so infectious. It had been so long since she had heard it.This was so strange: she hadn’t seen him like this in so long.All those old feelings started to come back.That primal, carnal urge inside her, those hormones she had tried to stifle for so long, began to return. 

He continued to rub, giving her left foot the same attention he had given her right.

“I’m hardly the most popular boy at school, Chiara! Most people avoid me, since I tend to end up in trouble. Being in danger all the time can be pretty lonely. Plus, I’m a total nerd.”

Now she laughed. “You’re Ravenclaw’s star chaser!”

“But I’m still a Ravenclaw! I learned to give foot massages from a book, for Pete’s sake!”

Now they both laughed. She felt such a strong connection to him. But in the back of her mind, a thought gnawed.She had felt this way before.What's to say that he wouldn’t go back to the way he had been once the moment passed?

“Life at Hogwarts can be tough when you’re trying to live up to everyone’s expectations,” he added, as he pressed his fingers into the soft spot where her toes met the ball of her foot.

“I understand that,” she agreed, squirming as that spot was more tender than she expected. “So while we’re opening up about things, how did you get your hair?Did you learn colovaria early on?”

He laughed, that same infectious laugh and that same damned smile. He was so appealing.“No, sadly,” he laughed, “I’m not that good a spellcaster. I was born this way; probably some weird side effect from my parents using magic when they had me.”He smiled again.She felt the heat rising inside her.She squeezed her thighs together in response, putting pressure on her increasingly throbbing pussy.

After a few minutes, she finally posed the other question that had been in her head.“So I have to ask: what’s the deal with tights?” 

“I don’t know,” he replied.“I’ve had a thing for them for as long as I can remember.There’s something incredibly sexy about a woman wearing them. They’re like a second skin.The look, the touch.I don’t know; I know it’s silly.”

“No, I get it,” she said.“I’ve heard of weirder things.”She had; after all, she knew Diego Caplan.

With that, he finished her massage.And he bent over and kissed her big toe.She laughed, and he turned pale again.“I’m sorry,” he said, “I shouldn’t have…”

“No, no,” she interjected. “It’s OK.”She drew back her feet into his lap and felt something there.She obviously knew what was happening biologically, even though Hogwarts took a very medieval view on sexual education. But this was her first time to feel it in person. That was one of the consequences of not letting herself get to close to people.She had read more than enough erotica, smuggled in by older students; she had talked about sex with her girlfriends; and she had fantasised plenty.She had spent so many nights touching herself, imagining this kind of moment.

The inner wolf roared inside her.“Stand up,” she said in a commanding voice.He looked at her, his eyes gleaming with the same hormones that were coursing through her.He stood up.“Lower your trousers.”He undid his belt, unfastened his trousers and let them fall to his ankles.

He was wearing boxer shorts, and his cock emerged from the opening in front.It was larger than Chiara had expected, though not unreasonably so.She had seen boys’ penises before, usually accidentally in the showers in the common room.But she hadn’t seen one erect like this.She could see the veins thick along the side, the head bulging at the front. She had an urge to hold it, to stroke it.

She looked up at the blue-haired boy standing above her.The lust in his eyes was almost shocking.But uncertainty still hovered in her rational mind.

“I have to ask,” she said slowly.“How much of this is the tights? And how much is me?”

“The tights are a big thing for me,” he answered, “But the woman inside them is so much more important.”

“Good answer,” she said. She ached for him. “Kneel.And kiss my feet.”He immediately fell to the ground and began kissing and licking her toes and her feet.She moaned, as her nylon stockings made the cool air and his warm breath feel more sensitive to her.She reached her right hand down and started to rub her swollen clit under her stockings and knickers.He moved up her legs: her ankles, calves, softly, gently, while his strong hands held her hips.She slid down the chair, so that her bum was barely on the seat.She angled her foot under him, to rub along his bulging cock.He groaned, then using his head to force her legs apart, he began kissing and licking the insides of her thighs.

He took his time, teasing her, building that ever-growing burning in her cunt.First her left thigh, then her right, then her left again, each time, getting higher and higher and higher.

He finally moved up to her crotch.He inhaled deeply, before diving in to lick and kiss her.Chiara was so aroused so could burst, but she wanted more than this.She grabbed her wand, pushed his head back, pointed the wand at her crotch, and whispered “Diffindo”.The tights ripped, followed by her knickers beneath, so that her pussy lay uncovered for him, framed in silver pubic hair.

He looked at her with such carnal desire.He immediately attacked her cunt, sticking her tongue inside, licking up all the juices she could produce.She grabbed the back of his head and held him tight, wrapping her legs around him, squeezing him to her.His strong hands now held her waist in place, just above her hips, as she ground her pelvis into his face.

He wasn’t very good at giving oral sex, a sign of his inexperience.He focused too much on sticking his tongue into her pussy, and not enough on all the more sensitive areas around it.But his enthusiasm was contagious.She carefully nudged him up, to get his tongue on her clit.“Just a little higher, please. Oh…oh… yes, right there.”She gasped as he found the button.

She felt the orgasm building within her.The wave was growing stronger and stronger, some from his rough tongue against her swollen clit, but most from the situation.This boy - this man- whom she had loved for so long, was between her legs, doing everything he could to satisfy her.It was what she had dreamt of, fantasised of, for so long…

The waves of pleasure came on increasing in intensity until finally it exploded through her.She moaned, arching her back, clawing his head, rubbing it into her, as he kept licking, until finally the waves subsided, and she pushed him back.“It’s too much… enough…” she panted.“That was… oh my…”She had to catch her breath.“I can’t imagine how good you’d be at that with practice. I’d volunteer!” she laughed, caressing his moistened face with her hands.

He sat back on his heels, smiling like a goofball, delighted at how good she felt.She looked down and noticed that he was still very much erect, a glistening drop of pre-cum lingering on the tip.She motioned for him to stand up.Maybe she could make one of his fantasies come true.

She lifted her legs, held them high with her hands beneath her thighs.Then she wrapped his cock with her feet, stroking it back and forth along the hardened shaft, just touching the sensitive glans enough to build his arousal.She didn’t need to work long.The teenage boy was so excited that within moments, and with a cry, he erupted.White streams of cum flew up, landing on the floor, her feet and her legs, up to her knee.

She smiled at him, so delighted to have had this moment.She held out her hands to him, ready for him to yank her to her feet and kiss her, hold her close.She yearned to feel his arms around her, for that sense of security and safety and belonging she hadn’t had in so many years.

But he took a step back, his face pale and contorted in horror.

Oh no. 

No no no no no. 

He can’t do this again.He just can’t.

“Oh my god, Chiara,” he whispered.He looked as though post-orgasmic clarity had set in.“I’m so sorry… What I did to your clothes…”

She wasn’t going to do this.Not now.She wasn’t going to let him see how hurt she was.

“It’s no problem.”She pointed her wand at her legs.“Scourgify!” Then to her crotch “Reparo!”The cum was lifted off and vanished, while her knickers and hose sewed themselves back together.

“Oh yeah.Magic.”He still had that haunted look.“Chiara. I’m so sorry. This wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“No. It’s fine.”She stood up, picked up her shoes and blazer and walked to the door.“Things happen.I’ll see you around maybe.Alohomora!”

The door flew open and she bolted out.She ran down the hall, as his voice echoed behind her: “Chiara!Wait!”He might fly faster than anyone their year, but he was no match for her on two legs.Or four, come to that.She ran as fast as she could in her stocking feet, not caring who saw her or whom she might bump into.She had to get out of there.

VII

Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she ran.That look on his face.How could she ever forget that look?

She arrived at the kitchen corridor, knocking the proper pattern on the barrels to access the entrance into the Hufflepuff common room.When she entered, she saw Diego Caplan dancing with a blushing fourth year while the gramophone played a soft waltz.Diego spun the girl around, letting her crash into the cushy sofa by the fireplace.

“Ah, mi cara Chiara,” he oozed.She found him impossibly creepy. There wasn’t a girl at Hogwarts he hadn’t tried to shag, including some that were far too young.She’d heard he’d tried with some of the blokes too.“Would you care to dance?”

“No,” she said firmly, having wiped the tears of her face.She had no idea how awful her makeup looked now, but she didn’t really care.

“Ah, well,” he accepted her refusal, “I understand.Another time, perhaps?” He picked up the fourth year for another round.“Oh, by the way, I hope you had a nice meeting with, was it McGonagall?” 

His knowing wink nauseated Chiara.She said nothing, but walked to the round door leading to her dorm. 

“Also, Penny is looking for you,” he called, as she entered the doorway.“Well, I don’t know if she’s looking for you precisely.Her exact words were: ‘I’m going to kill that silver-haired bitch.’ I only assume that’s you.Let me know if you’d like some dulling practice!”The last sentence was muffled by the door slammed behind Chiara.

She ran to her room, found it unoccupied, changed out of what she now considered tainted clothes, scrubbed her face, and put on a pair of soft flannel pyjamas.With a flick of her wand, the Cure came on.Desperate times called for desperate measures, and she forwarded the cassette straight to the title track.Disintegration.

“Screaming like this in the hope of sincerity, screaming it’s over and over and over. I leave you with photographs, pictures of trickery. Stains on the carpet and stains on the memory. Songs about happiness, murmured in dreams, when both of us knew how the end always is.”

Her voice cracked as she screamed along with Robert Smith.How did he know? How did he understand?He was a middle-aged muggle rock star. She was a pure-blood teenage werewolf. But his words felt like her words. Their melody was her melody.

She lay on the bed, spent, exhausted, crumpled, waiting only for the inevitable.She had lost Malachi - again - and in the process, she had lost Penny.She wasn’t crying; she was past that.She was just empty. 

A soft knock on the door.And the sound of it opening.

“Chiara?” a soft, soprano voice called in.It was Penny.

“Are you here to kill me?” Chiara asked.“Or just to call me rude names?”

The blonde sat down on the bed next to her.“I came to apologise.”

Chiara looked up at her.Penny was beautiful, even in her Hufflepuff school robes.She had been the prettiest girl in their year, but now, at sixteen, she had blossomed into full gorgeousness.Even Chiara, whose tastes tended toward the strong, masculine Cavendish, had to admit that Penny was a bit of all right.She no longer wore the braids that had marked her early years at Hogwarts.Now, her long hair hung full around her face, with an enviable bounce off the shoulders.She had also developed the kind of body you’d find on Page 6 of muggle newspapers.Soft in all the right places, but firm in the others.What really set her apart, though, was her kind spirit and incredible potions skill. The full package with piercing blue eyes.

Now, those piercing blue eyes were looking at Chiara with an expression of pity and sorrow.

“Pardon?” Chiara asked.

“I’m sorry,” Penny started, her soft Cockney accent still noticeable even after all these years at Hogwarts.“When I saw how Malachi was looking at you the other day, I got so jealous.And when I heard about the encounter in the courtyard this afternoon, I lost control. I said things I never should have said.I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” Chiara replied cautiously.“But it’s only been a couple of hours. Why aren’t you still upset?”

“I heard it from Diego, which is never a good way to get any news,” Penny answered.“I rather exploded and stormed through the halls.Only I ran into Liz Tuttle of all people.She talked me down.”

“Oh?”

“She asked why I felt that Malachi belonged to me.I had never really thought about that.I’d just come to assume he always had.We’d been friends since practically the beginning of first year.I’d supported him, he supported me, we went to the ball together.It seemed as though he and I together was just the expected thing.

“Have you ever thought about how little time we have left?” she continued. “Muggles often have university to figure things out, to explore themselves, to learn who they are.We have to have it all set by the time we try 18!”

Chiara had definitely thought about this.Most adults she knew met at school; her parents were the only pureblood couple she knew who hadn’t.Wizards who hadn’t met their future mate by 7th year often paired up with muggles later on.Chiara knew that wasn’t going to be an option, not in her condition, so she had pretty well accepted eternal loneliness as the consequence, especially after this afternoon.

“We’re still kids,” Penny went on. “We’re sixteen. So we rush into doing the expected thing.And for me, the expected thing has always been Malachi. I watch a lot of American romantic comedy movies with my Dad in the summer.Since I’m here during football season, movies are what keep us close.And in so many, the cheerleader ends up with the star athlete.It’s just what’s expected.”

She paused, searching for the words.

“It’s just…” she continued, “He has never looked at me the way he looks at you.And I’ve never looked at him that way.Not really.”

Chiara stared at her in shock.

“And if I can’t have him, there’s no one I’d rather see him with than you.”

Chiara had tried to take this all in, but that last was too much.She burst out in tears, sobbing uncontrollably.Penny jumped to Chiara’s bed and held her tight, letting the silver-haired girl cry on her shoulder.

Chiara felt like she had been crying for hours when she finally pulled away from Penny’s embrace.

“I wish that were all true,” she sniffed, fighting back another round of sobs. “But you didn’t see how he looked at me this afternoon.That wasn’t love or desire or affection; that was fear. And hatred.”

“I don’t think it was,” Penny replied, holding Chiara’s hands and looking into her eyes.“I saw him before I came in here.He’s miserable.He’s walking like he’s been cursed.Whatever happened - and I don’t need to know the details,” she added preemptively, “he’s sick about it.”

Chiara tried to read Penny’s face, to see if something was hiding behind her eyes.

“Talk to him,” the blonde advised earnestly.“You have nothing to lose. And maybe everything to gain.”

Chiara smiled, finally.“How many of those American romantic comedies did you watch over the summer?”

“All of them.Muggle movies are so much better than ours.But I haven’t been led astray yet.”

Chiara rolled her eyes, and reached to embrace her friend again.Penny hugged her back, and they stayed there for some time.Penny was so comforting, felt so comfortable.She really was the most wonderful friend she had.

She gave Penny a quick kiss on the cheek as a sign of appreciation.Penny reciprocated.The two then looked at each other, and slowly, almost magnetically, their lips came together.

Penny’s lips were so soft, so unlike what she expected.Penny opened her mouth slightly, and Chiara responded in kind.Their arms wrapped each other close, their bodies pressed together as they sat side-by-side on Chiara’s bed.Chiara could feel Penny’s breasts pressed against hers, cushioning and warm.She felt Penny’s tongue cautiously enter her mouth, probing, seeking hers. She flicked hers up to meet it.Penny’s arms tightened around her. Chiara’s heart was racing, and she could feel Penny’s in kind.

They finally pulled apart and looked at each other.Penny’s eyes were sparkling.

“Well,” Chiara started, embarrassed and turning red. She looked down at the floor.

“That was nice,” Penny said, quietly.“I’ve never kissed a girl before.Your lips are so soft.”

“Yours too.”They laughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

“Obviously, we both like blokes,” Penny started.

“Well, yeah,” Chiara responded, giggling.Penny joined in, and they hugged again, tightly. 

For a brief moment, Chiara wondered what being with Penny would be like.Probably amazing. But she shook it off.In 1989, homosexuality was still barely tolerated and often openly discriminated against in Britain, and in the wizarding community, those attitudes were even stronger.Prejudice and class distinctions ran rampant in the magical world, as her own experience had borne out.She couldn’t ask Penny to be part of that.

And ultimately, when she closed her eyes, it was Malachi’s face she saw. He was what she wanted.

Chiara stood up and stretched.She was feeling much better about things; that embrace was like a pepperup potion.Maybe there was hope after all.She would talk to Malachi.Really talk.

Penny, though, was looking at her.“Chiara?”

“Hmm?” 

“If Malachi somehow does turn out to be a right git…”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe we… you and I… could…” she trailed off, turning away.Chiara sat back down next to her.Now it was her turn to do the comforting.She put her hand on Penny’s knee.

“Penny…” she started.

“I know it’s ridiculous, and there’s no future, and it’s mad to even consider it, but that’s the real reason I was so jealous and angry before.Yes, I was mad about Malachi because I love him, I do, but I was even more mad about you. You’re just so sweet and lovely and beautiful and that kiss was magic and I know what you are and I don’t care. I just love you so much. I want to touch you and taste you and spend every moment with you.” The words went rapid-fire from her mouth.

Chiara sat silent, listening.But Penny went on, “I wasn’t going to say anything. I shouldn’t have. I should have kept my mouth shut for the rest of my life, but… but… but…” She tailed off as she saw her friend’s pitying face.

“You are so beautiful, Penny,” Chiara started, looking into those piercing blue eyes. “And that kiss was wonderful. But I have to talk to Malachi. I’m afraid he’s what my heart is singing for. Even though he keeps breaking it. I have to know for certain.”

Penny nodded, sorrowfully.Chiara hugged her again.“I’m probably too hairy for you anyway.”

Penny laughed, and they stood up.“Tough to have a secret affair in the same room as Tonks, Cassie, and Vashti anyway.”

“Yeah, although I bet Diego’s been fantasising about it for years,” Chiara snorted.

That set them both off laughing.

Meanwhile, the cassette had rolled back to the beginning.“The real belief of something more than mockery, if only I could fill my heart with love.”

VIII

Friday afternoon, two days later, brought Herbology, her first class with Malachi since the encounter in the east wing.Chiara was feeling every possible emotion: fear, hope, desire, confusion.Penny’s admission had brought them closer together, even as Chiara made it clear that she wanted to keep their relationship platonic.She appreciated the irony that she expected Penny to behave in a way that she herself would not.Malachi had said twice now that there wasn’t a romantic future, yet still she felt she had to confirm it.

She and Penny briefly touched hands in the hall on the way to the greenhouses.It sent a quick electric shock, the kind of shock that had happened several times a day since Wednesday: a brief touch, a quick glance, a quiet whisper.Penny seemed so relieved that Chiara hadn’t grown distant or abandoned her; she was somehow even perkier than she had been. In her mind, she hadn’t heard “no,” she had heard “not yet.”

When they entered, there were the few Ravenclaws and Gryffindors who had also taken NEWT herbology.And Barnaby Lee, of course, Slytherin’s lone representative. Barnaby had worked like crazy to scrape a passing grade on his OWLs, and he wanted to continue herbology most of all.Chiara had always thought that Barnaby and Penny would make a good match.He was tall, handsome, athletic, and maybe the purest soul she knew.He wasn’t very bright, of course, but she figured Penny would have enough brains for the both of them.Their children would have been spectacular.

Of course, now, she knew better.Oh well.

And there was Malachi.He waved at Penny and then saw Chiara.He forced a smile and turned beet red.Oh well again.Maybe that conversation she was hoping to have shouldn’t happen.But Chiara didn’t feel quite the same pit in her stomach as before.

As they worked on their Valerian roots, Chiara felt something slide into her pocket.It was a note written on a scrap of parchment.

_I can’t stop thinking about the other day. Would you please talk to me?_

Chiara looked up to see Malachi across the table looking at her.She nodded, and scribbled “3 o’clock Artefact room” on the parchment. Then a quick wingardium leviosa sent it sailing back to Malachi.

He read the note, seemed to count in his head, turned pale again, and nodded.

As they were leaving, Penny whispered to her “What did he say?”

“He wants to talk.3 o’clock.”

“But that’s his Quidditch practice!” Penny said, having been a keen follower of Malachi’s quidditch career from the get go.

“Shite!” Chiara exclaimed, maybe a little loudly. “What do I do? He’s already gone.”

“Show up, I guess,” Penny replied, “But don’t be too upset if he’s not there.”

“Who's not where?” Tonks asked, coming up from behind.

“Chiara is meeting Malachi to talk,” Penny explained quietly. “I was giving her advice.”

“Oh!” Tonks said, looking surprised.“But Diego said…”

Penny and Chiara linked arms and laughed, interrupting Tonks’ story.Diego… what a git.

Before they went their separate ways, Penny pulled Chiara into a side alcove in the long hallway.Those piercing blue eyes stabbed at her own.“OK. I meant what I said that I would be happy if the two of you are together,” Penny started.

Chiara began to interrupt, but the blonde shushed her.

“I mean it. So let me wish you good luck.”

She pinned Chiara back against the wall.Penny was an inch or so shorter than Chiara, but it didn’t seem to matter.She pressed her lips to Chiara’s and gave another deep, probing passionate kiss.Chiara, at first wanting to resist, found herself melting into Penny’s embrace.She wrapped her arms around the blonde, holding her fast.

Then she felt Penny’s fingers against her crotch.Even in her uniform, she could feel Penny’s almost perfect aim in finding the right spot.She moaned and felt her knees weaken slightly.Penny disengaged from the kiss and nibbled softly on her right ear. “Good luck. If you marry him, I’ll be your maid of honour.”

With that, and one last squeeze of Chiara’s crotch, Penny spun and skipped away, leaving Chiara in a mist of floral perfume.

Merlin’s beard, she was something. But Chiara shook her head. No, I need to concentrate, she told herself. Penny is wonderful, but Malachi is the one who excites me. I hope.

IX

Chiara didn’t have time to change before heading to the artefact room, so she was still in her school robes.She scourgified the floor and moving a large basket off the chair, sat down.She wished she had brought a book. 

But only three minutes after 3, the door opened, and Malachi slipped in.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Chiara,” he said. “I had Quidditch practice, so I had to take a prank allergy sweet from Zonko’s.Brief uncontrollable sneezing and a trip to the hospital wing. But I’m here.”

“You didn’t have to skip practice for this!” Chiara exclaimed.

“No, I did,” he said.He walked up to her and reached his hands down to her, to pull her up to standing.She took them and he pulled her up.He kept holding her hands.He was so close now. He smelled so nice: clean yet grassy from the Quidditch pitch but with the hint of a pine-scented cologne.

“Chiara,” he started.“I’m sorry for the other day. I didn’t say what I wanted to say when I should have said it, and I’m horrified that you got the wrong impression.”

“Go on,” she replied, looking up at him.He had about six inches on her in height.

“That was the second most amazing experience of my life,” he said. 

“Second best?” she yelped questioningly.

“Let me explain.It was amazing.But I was upset because that’s not how I pictured all of this going.”He looked deeply into her eyes.“The thing is: I’ve wanted to be with you for years, Chiara.”

“What?”

“Let me show you,” he said.He pointed his wand at himself, and as she watched in amazement, his nose and mouth lengthened, his ears grew, he hunched over, and within a second, he had transformed into a wee brown terrier, with only a small light blue patch behind his floppy ears giving away his true nature.

“You’re an animagus???” she screamed, shocked and delighted.

In a flash, he transformed back into the handsome teenager. 

“I learned it for you.Talbot showed me.I tried so hard to prove to you that I was worth opening up for. That night in the courtyard, when you did open up, when we connected, that was the most amazing night of my life. That’s when I knew for sure that I only wanted you.”

Chiara was gobsmacked.“But you left! You pulled back. You only wanted to be a friend, and not a very good one.”

“That’s what you asked me to do!”

“What?”

“You gave me the photograph, which I have taped to my wardrobe, by the way, next to my OWL results.”

“You’re such a Ravenclaw,” she joked, “but yes, I gave you that photograph!”

“Then you said, in this very room, ‘I know I can draw strength from something better than a photo: you.’ meaning me.” 

“Yes! And I meant that! It means the world to me that you stayed, that you weren’t afraid.”

“It meant the world to me too! But then in the very next breath, and I’ll never forget this, you said, 'Malachi, I realise now that you are truly my friend.’” He put emphasis on “friend.”

“Right? You were!”

“I died in that moment. If you had a magical camera, you could see the exact moment where my heart broke.I was standing right…” he moved slightly to his right and back two steps. “here.”

“Oh, Malachi…”

“So I did what I knew how to do,” he went on.“Be cordial, be friendly, have sandwiches and butterbeer, but every minute was awful. I was, well, _am_ truthfully, so mad about you.”

“Malachi…” she started, grabbing his hands again.

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he stated, looking into her eyes. He stopped a moment. “When I saw you in those different stockings a couple of weeks ago, it set fire to my brain. And then to see you on Wednesday, like that… It was too much.”

Chiara smiled, as did he, as both thought of that moment.

“But, Chiara…” he started.“That’s not how I wanted to finally be with you.I wanted to be romantic, to kiss you, to hold hands as we walk through the forest, to share secrets…To romance you properly.That’s why I tried to apologise.I want you so badly physically, but I want you in every other way even more.”

She couldn’t listen anymore.“Stop talking, Malachi.”She reached up, drew his face to yours, and kissed him.He wrapped her in his arms, and she melted, letting herself be pulled into him.His lips weren’t as soft and full as Penny’s, but they were expressive and probing.His arms were so strong around her.She flicked her tongue against his as the kiss deepened.She had hoped for this, but never expected it.All lingering doubts she had were swept away.

Finally, they drew apart, still holding one another.

“So don’t laugh,” he said, “But I listen to muggle music.”

“You do?” she asked, surprised.He was half-blood, although his father was a muggleborn wizard.She assumed he was locked into wizard culture as she had been.

“Yeah.It’s just better than wizard music.Magic might make someone play music better, but it doesn’t help with creativity.It’s basic maths: there are something like twenty-five thousand muggles for every wizard, so they’re going to have much better artists and musicians.”

Chiara looked at him askance.Was he reading her mind?Was this all some kind of prank?He was a legilimens, she knew that.Was he making fun of her?

He went on, mistaking her look for disbelief.“Anyway, I bought this compact disc over the summer - that’s a muggle music device - by a band called the Cure.”

She wriggled out of his grasp.“What are you playing at?!” she shouted angrily.“Did Tonks put you up to this?”She started to leave the room, to run again.How could he do this!?All the emotions came pouring back, and with them, the need to run, run far away.Run to Penny.

“Wait!” he said, grabbing her arm. “I don’t know why you’re upset, but look!” With his other hand, he pulled out a small portable cassette player, the same kind she used when she went running. He popped open the door and pulled out a cassette tape.It was blank but had “CURE - DISINTEGRATION” written on the side in his unmistakable handwriting.“It’s just music,” he said, showing her.

She saw it.And fell on the floor, crying.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, kneeling next to her.“I don’t have to listen to this if it bothers you.”

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.This was too much.She now only felt deep shame for having doubted, for being suspicious.His eyes were so concerned, deep green, and glistening with tears of his own.

“Whenever I’m alone with you,” she softly sang. “You make me feel like I am home again.”

He understood, and the tears came on strong.He joined in, “Whenever I’m alone with you, you make me feel like I am whole again.”

“However far away, I will always love you.”

“However long I stay, I will always love you.”

“Whatever words I say, I will always love you.”

“I will always love you.”

Their lips found each other as they fell on the floor, embracing with an almost animal passion.But the artefact room wasn’t exactly conducive to making out.They stood up and left the room, holding hands as they walked.

“Chiara, I’ve been a horrible mess for months now.”

“Me too.”

“I’m sorry I’ve ever made you feel so sad you had to listen to the Cure.”

She laughed. “I should say the same thing!”

“Can we promise to talk to each other more?” he asked, “And not write stories in our head that may not be true?”

She kissed him on the cheek.“Maybe.In the meantime, where should we go?”

“I have an idea,” he replied, "but I don’t know if it will work.”

X

They stood in front of the a blank wall on the seventh floor of the west wing, opposite a tapestry of a wizard trying to teach trolls how to dance ballet.

“So my understanding is that there is a magic room hidden here that will be exactly what you need it to be. You just have to be thinking about it as you walk past.”

She held his hand as they walked past; as they did so, a grand archway and door appeared along the vacant wall.

They swiftly entered.And there was a perfectly cosy room, with a fireplace roaring, a plush rug on the floor, a large, comfortable sofa, a side table and chairs, a tea set, and a grand four-poster bed, plush with pillows.The wallpaper featured a pattern of royal blue and yellow, with wolf’s heads superimposed every so often.Chiara gasped in surprise as she looked around.

“The room made all of this for us?”

“It’s what we needed,” Malachi replied, turning to the tea set.“No tea, though.”

“It can’t,” she pointed out.“It’s one of the five exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration.”

“Oh, right,” Malachi agreed.Chiara, for obvious reasons, was genius at transfiguration.Charms, potions, and herbology as well.All of which made sense for someone who wanted to be a healer.

She turned to him. “It’s OK, I’m a coffee girl anyway.Italian!” she laughed as she struck a pose.“Nice touch with the wolf’s heads, by the way,” she joked, elbowing him playfully. 

Then she got quiet. “So what should we do, now that we’re here?” 

She was nervous, and she felt that he was too.He was still wearing his Quidditch practice robes, while she was in her school robes.He unfastened the broach on her robe, leaving her in her sweater, shirt, tie, and skirt.She did the same for him.He took off the outer chest protector, leaving just the poofy lace-up undershirt beneath.The fire was making the room fairly warm, and dressing for Scotland in late November meant too many layers.

“If you aren’t comfortable with anything,” he said, “just say the word.”

“You too,” she replied. 

“But first, I have to say one more thing before we go further,” he said.She looked at him with concern. “I’ve seen too many couples get too into the act of being a couple, and lose sight of nurturing and respecting the individual person they’re with. So if we’re going to be together, I promise to respect you for you. You are the most fascinating, enchanting woman I’ve ever met, Chiara Lobosca, and I want to be there for you when you cure every disease there is.”

She jumped onto him.He reflexively caught her, his hands holding her thighs as she wrapped her legs around him and kissed him.

He didn’t have the right balance, though, and he fell backwards onto the carpet in front of the fireplace.

“Oh my god, are you OK?” she asked, as she landed on top of him.

He kissed her hard in response.She sat up, still straddling him, and removed her sweater and then her tie.Next came her shirt, revealing her silver bra beneath.“Oh wow,” Malachi gasped. It looked like liquid metal, with enchanted lace lining.

“I didn’t expect this to happen tonight,” she said, leaning forward to let him kiss her breasts, “but I like to consider all possible outcomes just in case.What do you think?”

Her breasts weren’t large, but they weren’t small either.He could see the edges of her dark areolae peeking out from under the silver lace.As he kissed them, he felt the fabric - it was like nothing he had ever felt.It was metallic, but silky, and slightly cool to the touch.“What is this?”

“Silver!” she laughed.“It’s a special silver silk from Italy. Wizards in Venice have been making it for eight hundred years or so.”She kissed him some more, then rolled over so she could take off his shirt with him on top of her.

“I thought werewolves couldn’t tolerate silver,” he commented as she pulled his puffy Quidditch shirt over his head.

“Just a muggle myth,” she smiled.“That’s why it’s my favourite. Well, that and my hair.”

She marvelled at his naked torso.He wasn’t bulked up like Barnaby, but he was strong and well defined.She rubbed her fingers along his biceps. “Quidditch does some good, then?”

“It’s best on the thighs and hands, since that’s where you’re gripping the broom.Trousers can sometimes fit uncomfortably.”He smiled as he said that, as he started to kiss her chest and then inch by inch down to her stomach.She lifted her bum, and he unzipped her skirt behind her, tossing it up.She pointed her wand and drifted it to the sofa, along with the other clothes, unwrinkled.

He continued kissing over her tights and then to her crotch. She ran her fingers through his hair, but said “Not yet.Start at my feet again.”

“Would you like another massage?”

“Show me how you do that trick, the one that makes me scream,” she said.

He laughed, and so did she, “You are so incredible,” he said, kissing her feet and beginning his work.

She threw her arms over her head and let the sensations come.She could feel herself getting wet, as he rubbed out all her stress and worries and anxieties.Her mind wandered. She started to imagine feeling him inside her, filling her.She felt safe, she felt loved, she felt respected, and it was incredibly sexy.

But then her mind wandered to a picture of a face.A gentle face with soft lips, framed in gold.She found herself wishing that Penny could share in this, just for a moment.But then she glanced down.Malachi was smiling.That smile, that damned smile. 

Her finished massaging her feet, then he told her to roll over, face down.She did and sighed as he started working on her calves.All the running she did meant that her calves were perpetually tight, plus they took some of the hardest tension during her transformation.He rolled his knuckled down her calves, hitting all the spots.She was still in her black school tights, but she knew he liked them, so she didn’t take them off yet.

He moved up to her thighs, and that felt even better.He worked his way across the muscles, pushing, stroking, easing all her tension away.

“Your bum is incredible,” he said, his voice deeper and more guttural than usual. She reached back and up, and even with his trousers on, she could feel how hard he was.

“Rip my tights and taste me,” she commanded, as she rolled herself onto her back beneath him.He did, not with magic, but with his bare hands, shocked to find no knickers underneath. “I have matching knickers to the bra, but I thought they might get in the way.You know, all possible outcomes.”

He didn’t dive in this time.Instead he started kissing her inner thighs, just below where they meet her hips.First one side, then the other.Gentle, but not too gentle.Then he licked her groin, just outside the folds of her labia, teasing her.She bit her lip and she rubbed her fingers through his light-blue hair, while he licked. His hands held the top of her hips, his fingers caressing where her torn tights ended and her pale skin began.

He then began to nuzzle and softly bite the folds of her labia.She began to claw at his scalp with her fingernails as the heat kept rising in her depths of her groin.His tongue darted into her pussy, then slowly drew upwards, along her vulva until he found her clit, already swollen with desire. 

At first he sucked it, drawing it out from its hood, then he switched to his tongue, letting the bumpy surface move left and right back and forth against her.His hands had moved down, squeezing her bum.She revelled in the attention, in the waves of pleasure washing over her, as she stretched her arms above her head in delight. 

Then she felt something penetrate her.He must have pushed his finger into her vagina.Out of nowhere, a new feeling, a deep, primal, pleasurable feeling from deep within her.He had found her G spot, and was stroking her on the inside and licking her on the outside.It was unbelievable.She grabbed his uniquely light-blue hair again, and held his face into her soaking cunt.“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop…” He continued, getting into a firm rhythm of stroking and licking.All of her muscles began to tense up as she felt the waves getting higher and higher and higher.

She screamed as she came, her hands like claws holding him to her as every muscle released.She felt her cunt’s juices shoot from her, all over his face.But still he kept going, kept stroking, kept licking, and she felt another orgasm rising within her.Oh my god, what was this wizardry? She howled with lust as the second one came rising even stronger than the first.As it peaked, she felt everything spin.And then the feeling of falling.It was too much.Darkness overtook her.

When she woke, she was lying on the bed, his arm wrapped around her.“What happened?” she asked groggily. 

“You passed out,” he said, stroking her hair.

“What?” she shot up, concerned. “Merlins’ beard, what time is it?”

“Around six, I think. You’ve been asleep for only about twenty minutes.”

“Oh good,” she said. “As long as we’re in the Great Hall for dinner. I’m starving.”

“That doesn’t give us much time,” he said, kissing her softly on the forehead.

She turned to him and realised he was naked, while she was still in her bra and tights. He looked magnificent. “Malachi?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, Chiara?”

“Will you fuck me?” she said.“Please?”

“Chiara!” He hadn’t expected her to call it that.

“Fuck me, Malachi.Hard.I need it.”

He didn’t need a second invitation.He jumped on top of her, and angled his cock to the entrance of her vagina.“Wait,” he said, “I don’t have a condom.”

She laughed. “We’re wizards, Malachi. There are potions for that. Now get inside me.”

He pushed his cock past her outer opening, and she gasped.It was so much thicker than she thought.It hurt.She gritted her teeth through the pain, hoping that he wouldn’t notice as he thrust out and in, out and in.Gradually, the pain lessened, and she started rocking back and forth to meet his thrusts.

Their eyes met as he thrust.In and out, in and out, until far too soon, he started to come.She could feel his thrusts getting slower and yet stronger.“Yes, yes, yes, keep going!” she screamed.He thrust twice more before exploding inside her.He fell on top of her, kissing her so hard it was as if he were going to come out the other side.

He rolled off of her and kissed her again.

“That was my first time, Chiara,” he admitted.

“Mine too,” she said, smiling. “We’ll get better with practice.” 

She turned to look at him.“Speaking of which,” she pressed, “how did you get so good at going down on me? Have you been practicing? How? And on whom?” She tried to sound off-the-cuff, but there was concern in her voice.

He looked very sheepish. “So in the Ravenclaw Common Room, we have a series of books.How-to manuals on sexual activities. They’ve got everything in there.”

“You learned that from a book?”

“Yes, mostly. Do you not have those in Hufflepuff?”

“We aren’t nerds,” she laughed. “It’s mostly romantic fiction that we have tucked away. And some bondage toys.”

“Really?” He had this sudden view of all these quiet, gentle Hufflepuffs whipping one another in their common room.

“Yes, but let’s talk about you.You said ‘Mostly’?”

“While I was reading, I had some advice in my research. Not hands-on, but a teacher.”

“Really?” she asked, propping her head up with her elbow beneath. “Who, may I ask?”

“You know Skye Parkin? Seventh year in my house?”

“Oh sure. Famous Quidditch star, whole family is, right?”

“Well, she happens to have a lot of experience in this department.”

Chiara’s mouth flew open.

“Yeah, she’s been seeing Liz Tuttle on the sly for nearly six months now. Since the end of last term.She’s the one who recommended this room to me.They’ve been using it, and since the room transfigures with each entrance, nothing’s ever left behind.She doesn’t reckon many people know about this.”

Chiara was lost for words.She had no idea that Skye and Liz were together.I mean, she didn’t talk to Skye much, but Liz was her Divinations partner.You’d have thought something would have come up in the tea leaves or something.

“That’s top secret, of course,” Malachi said, “But you’re the best secret keeper in the school, so she’s not worried.”

“Wait,” Chiara held up a hand. “She knows?”

“I rather had to tell her,” he answered.“You can’t very well be caught reading a book on cunnilingus and not be willing to answer questions.”

“I guess not, but still!” she slapped him playfully.“You were making a pretty big assumption.”

“Had to consider all outcomes, you know.”

They kissed again, then got up to get dressed, casting spells to clean and repair their clothes.

“So…” she said, “What do we tell everyone?”

“I’d like to say you’re my girlfriend, if you’re not scared by that.”

She held his hand. “I’m not scared of anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> This has been my first attempt at writing erotica for a public audience. I'd love to hear any comments! If there's interest, I'm considering a sequel giving the three protagonists one remarkable night together.


End file.
